APOL1 Background

APOL1 is involved in the formation and efflux of cholesteryl esters, and also lipid transport. Recent studies have shown that alteration in APOL1 function can lead to obesity, chronic kidney disease (CKD), schizophrenia, or cancer (1 and 2).

Proteintech offers a human-specific APOL1 ELISA kit, with high sensitivity (0.07 nm/ml) and broad assay range (0.156–10 ng/ml). The KE00047 kit is a quantitative measurement of human APOL1 protein in serum and plasma. It has recently been cited in top scientific publications as a useful tool regarding HIV, CKD, or frontotemporal dementia (FTD) studies (3-5).

APOL1 is also involved in the pathology of FTD, which primarily affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. Teunissen et al. evaluated APOL1 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of FTD patients, performing proteomic analysis to screen proteins with different expression levels, which were later validated by ELISA assays. One of their discoveries was that FTD-tau patients had one of the highest APOL1 fold changes when compared to other FTD subtypes (4).

A recent paper from Nature Medicine relates to the pathogenesis of APOL1-associated kidney nephropathy and its soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR). Higher suPAR levels were linked to a greater decline in kidney function. The in vitro and in vivo experiments describe clinical and molecular interactions between suPAR and APOL1, suggesting both to be novel and strong predictors of kidney disease. The nephropathologic effect of APOL1 based on suPAR-mediated αvβ3-integrin activation could be a safe therapeutic approach to the treatment of CKD. Serum APOL1 obtained from blood samples was measured using a human Proteintech APOL1 ELISA kit (5).

Proteintech’s APOL1 ELISA kit is specific for the detection of human APOL1. No cross-reactivity to APOL1 analogs has been found.